The spiked projectiles hammered against the glimmering ion shield that emanated over my Armiger Warglaive, causing the particles to cascade violently. Encased within my Helm Mechanicum, my fingers twitched within my haptic gloves and my mechanical steed responded fluidly to my will. Its torso pivoted and a searing light of molten energy lanced out of my thermal spear.
My target hissed as part of its massive serpentine body was incinerated. The incandescent beam, which was capable of melting through thick adamantine armor, simply disintegrated organic matter. The orochi writhed in agony, the two halves of its body flopping about. Without any hesitation, I had my Armiger Warglaive end its misery by stomping on its head.
Whirling about, I activated the disruptive power field around the reaper chain-cleaver and caught a second orochi by the throat before it could crash against my machine. Flicking my haptic gloves, I sawed through the orochi's neck and decapitated it in a single stroke. The thirty-meter long serpent flopped onto the ground, its jaws still snapping open and shut in its death throes.
I bade my knight to step over its carcass, the carapace-mounted meltagun whirring about as it tracked a third target. Another thermal beam lanced outward, burning off a few emerald scales. The orochi snarled and lunged at me, but I obliterated its head with a blast from my thermal spear.
"These make for poor sport," Yamazaki Sousuke remarked. His Armiger Warglaive loped from the opposite direction. A second beam of molten energy flared, spearing another orochi before it could slither away. I could hear the disapproval in my fellow bondsman's voice. "How did it go on your end, Tanaka?"
"Clear," I replied. "I've eliminated the three orochi in this area."
"Hah! I took out five."
I didn't respond to that. This wasn't a competition. It was the duty of the Knights of House Yato to exterminate the orochi and other gigantic monsters that roamed the verdant forests of Draconis III, to protect the farmers and civilians from the ravages of ferocious beasts. The ayakashi, as we termed them, usually grew to immense sizes. The orochi was among the worst of them, slithering across agricultural fields to devour entire farmhouses. They showed up in swarms and made for good sport. Normally, a single knight would be dispatched, along with his retainers - in other words, us bondsmen.
I was curious as to why Lord Takeda Takumi, the Daimyo of the Kai Province, had decided to take upon this onerous duty today. Normally, the orochi would be assigned to lower-ranking knights, but Lord Takeda had wanted to hunt. From his enthusiasm, I gathered that it was not simply orochi that infested this forest.
There were tremors and the thunderous clanking of gears and servos to my left. Consulting the hololithic pictscreen that displayed an external view, I turned my mechanical steed around and spotted Lord Takeda's Questoris class Knight Errant stomping over. The Ryuugiri - or Dragon Slayer in Gothic - sported a thermal cannon, a larger and more powerful melta-class variant of the thermal spears mounted upon our Armiger class knights.
Not that I was complaining. Yamazaki and I were both simple retainers, in the servitude of a Daimyo as highly ranked and regarded as Lord Takeda. The Takeda clan had served the Shogun and House Yato for generations, and they had accumulated an incredible amount of prestige. Soon, Lord Takeda would be called to the war among the stars, and we retainers would accompany him.
I wondered what it would be like to travel across the galaxy, transported to warzones where the Knights of House Yato would fight for glory and honor, to uphold our oaths to the Imperium and the Heavenly Emperor. It was the dream of every Draconian warrior to participate in such wars, to earn a reputation not just in the Draconis Sector but throughout the Imperium itself.
"We will be moving deeper into the Mori Forest," Lord Takeda ordered over the vox without preamble. He turned his Questoris chassis about and marched inward without waiting for an acknowledgement from either of us. I glanced at the holo-pict displaying Yamazaki's Armiger and shrugged despite knowing that the Daimyo's other retainer couldn't see me. Yamazaki muttered something on a private channel, but I ignored him. He turned his Armiger around to accompany the intimidating Knight Errant, while I spread out and took the opposite flank.
"My lord?" I asked when my master brought his steed to a halt. "What is the matter?"
"The forest...not everything is as it seems. The inhabitants appear to be disturbed by something."
"The ayakashi?" I asked, wondering if there were more of these warp-born beasts hiding somewhere. "More of the orochi, perhaps?"
"No. Not the orochi." Lord Takeda's voice was tense. "There's something else in here...something more ferocious and insidious. I can sense it."
At that time, I didn't understand how he was able to perceive the malevolent presence, but later when I was raised through the ranks, I realized that he must have heard the agitated whispers of the long-dead warriors who resided in his Throne Mechanicum. Often, when the venerable machine-spirit of the bigger Knights sensed something amiss, the souls within the Throne Mechanicum would lend their wisdom to the current pilot, urging caution.
There was a loud crash, and I spotted a cluster of trees being uprooted and toppling over. I caught a glimpse of something massive slithering over it. At first, I thought it might be an orochi, but then I realized that it was far larger than those thirty-meter long snakes.
"At last..." I could hear the excitement in Lord Takeda's voice. "A worthy prey."
"That's...that's the Yamata no Orochi," Yamazaki whispered, his voice filled with dread.
With a bellow, the titanic ayakashi emerged from the forest, leveling trees and flattening foliage. Stretching over a hundred meters in length, its eight serpentine heads writhed about, each of them focusing on something else. Three of the heads were watching our small lance carefully, tracking our movements.
"My lord..." Yamazaki was unable to conceal his fear. "We must fall back. We cannot defeat the Yamata no Orochi by ourselves."
Inwardly, I agreed with my fellow bondsman. Known as the king of the orochi, the titanic Yamata no Orochi was capable of devastating entire lances by itself. Standard doctrine stated that to combat a Yamata no Orochi, we would require at least three full lances, including a single Dominus Knight Castellan.
However, Lord Takeda was in no mood to call for reinforcements.
"This glory is mine," he declared.
"I must advise against this course of action, my lord," I said.
"Your advice is noted, Tanaka. Now follow me. Dragon Slayer Formation."
Neither Yamazaki nor I was happy about this, but we had been trained to obey our lord. Almost as if in reflex, our Armiger Knights spread out on either side of Ryuugiri's flank. Coordinating through our Helm Mechanicum, we fired a volley of incadescent beams, the trio of thermal lances converging upon one of the central heads of the approaching Yamata no Orochi. There was a blazing flash and the head recoiled, its scales melting. However, it remained intact.
One of the eight tails lashed out, catching Ryuugiri by the arm and sending the super-heavy machine spinning to the ground. I heard a curse from Lord Takeda over the vox, my master sounding winded. Automatically, I moved my Armiger forward at the same time as the other heads. A second tail slammed down on Ryuugiri, knocking it flat onto the ground, and then curled around the super-heavy walker. It began crushing it physically, causing sparks to fly.
"No...!" Lord Takeda growled. He was trying to activate his reaper chainsword, the glowing power field sheathing its whirring blade. However, the Yamata no Orochi continued to tighten its stranglehold, preventing the noble from bringing his deadly weapon to bear.
"Hold on, my lord!" I took aim and let loose a thick beam from the thermal spear, striking the tail several meters away from the Daimyo's steed. The emerald scales glowed and began to melt, but the Yamata no Orochi held strong. Several of the heads snarled at me before lunging forward, but I was already driving my Armiger forward at a sprint.
While the carapace meltagun spat deadly volleys at the head in an attempt to keep them back, I reached Lord Takeda's position. Bringing my reaper chain-cleaver down, I sawed upon the injured portion of the tail. The scales had half-melted from the tremendous heat, softened by the shot from my thermal spear. Still glowing hot from my earlier assault, the flesh gave way underneath my melee weapon. There was a screech of pain, and the tail suddenly withdrew, almost knocking my steed to its back.
"Thank you, Tanaka," Lord Takeda grunted as he swiped at the retreating tail with his glowing reaper chainsword, taking out a big chunk of flesh and scales in the process. Then his voice rose in alarm. "Watch out!"
I didn't have time to react. The other heads that had been pursuing me earlier had finally reached me, smacking the back of my Armiger Knight and sending it flying. I felt a sense of vertigo as my Knight tumbled forward, crashing into trees and toppling them. My Helm Mechanicum went dark and I slumped against my seat, feeling blood trickle down my face. If it weren't for the harness that pinned me to my seat, I would most probably have been thrown about in my cockpit.
Clenching my haptic gloves into fists, I groaned and fought to bring my machine back to life. There was a deafening thud that wrenched my Knight about and I jerked about in my seat. Several of the systems had yet to come back online, but somehow I knew my weapons still worked. I squeezed a trigger with one of my haptic gloves almost subconsciously, blindly releasing another devastating thermal beam, while my other hand dictated a desperate slash with the reaper chain-cleaver. I felt satisfaction when I perceived something yielding before my attacks, as well as the piercing shriek that somehow penetrated the adamantium walls around me to ram against my eardrums.
There was another smack and my Armiger Knight careened once more. My head struck something and I knew nothing more as darkness consumed me.
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